If a stranger went into Mimi Taichikawa's bedroom, they would have thought she had been robbed. Clothes were all over the white comforter, seven different pairs of shoes laid scattered across the floor, a damp towel laying at the corner of the room, already forgotten. But this was the norm for Miss Taichikawa. The current state of her bedroom was the least of her problems at the moment.
Mimi was pacing around the warzone she called her bedroom, grabbing her wallet and extra lip gloss, tossing them both into her small bag. She was also on the phone at the same time, trying to figure out her bigger problem. The one she always seems to get herself into. Especially when it came to him.
"I told you, Mimi. I told you not to let him spend the night. But you ignored me." Yamato chastised.
"Ugh, I know! You don't have to tell me that! What I would like you to tell me if how I get RID of him!" Mimi hissed back, trying to keep her voice down.
"Any other time, I would not care if Taichi knew where you were going but this is important! You know how big is mouth is!" Yamato said.
Mimi was about to retort back but heard a sigh on the other end.
"Do what you have to do and get here please. We need to start in 30 minutes so I can clean anything up and have it ready for Sora by tomorrow night. Good luck.
With those last words, the line went dead. Mimi looked at her phone then dragged her hand down her face.
"How am I gonna do this?" she said out loud although no one could hear her.
Three minutes later, Mimi was closing her bedroom door and walking into her living.
"Hey Taichi," she began but nearly ran into him at the end of the hall.
Mimi shrieked, jumping back a little bit.
"Taichi! Don't do that! You scared me!" Mimi said.
"Why are you trying to get rid of me?"
Mimi's face fell. She could not believe Taichi had heard her conversation. Things just got a more complicated.
"I don't WANT to get rid of you," she began, "but I have something very important I have to do and I'm on a time schedule. You can just wait here for me; it should only take a few hours." She rushed out.
"A few hours?" Taichi just about yelled. "What am I gonna do?"
Mimi was running out of time and she could feel herself getting desperate. Then she thought of it. A sly smiled started to play on her face.
She put her hand on Taichi's chest and pushed him gently into the wall behind him. She closed the distance between them, pressing herself against him.
Mimi leaned into him, his ear mere inches away from her lips.
"I promise I'll make it up to you later." She told him, using what Taichi called her "sexy voice."
"But-" was all Taichi managed to get out before Mimi stepped up her game. She quickly moved from his ear to his lips.
It took Taichi a moment to realize what was happening before he melted into her kiss. Deciding to take it a step further, Mimi parted her lips, an invitation he had been given many times.
A minute later, something bright caught his eye. He looked down at the source, and coming from Mimi's purse, her phone lit up.
Seeing the name on it, Taichi stopped kissing her and said, "Why is Yamato texting you?"
Mimi was still standing there, mid kiss before falling flat when she heard that name."
"What?" she asked, quickly snatched the phone from her purse. It was from Yamato.
"You have to be on that train in 10 minutes if you want to make it in time! I hope you're passed that point though."
"Well, shit." Mimi said with a sigh. The jig was up. There was no way Mimi would be able to talk her way out of this one and there was no way Taichi would let it go.
"Fine," she exhaled. "If you MUST know, I'm recording a song with Yamato today and it's for Sora. Their one-year anniversary is coming up and he asked me to do this with him."
Taichi had a sour look on his face and arms crossed. But after a second he put two and two together and his face lit up.
"So you're going to sing?"
"Uh yeah." Mimi responded. Yamato was going to kill her and if things got ruined somehow, it was going to be her fault.
She pushed her purse farther up her shoulder and took Taichi by the hand.
"We have to leave right now though. Yamato won't be happy about this but if I'm late, that's two things for him to be mad at me for." Mimi said, walking them out the door.
Taichi stopped in the hallway while Mimi locked the front door.
"Where are we going?"
When Taichi and Mimi walked into the studio with not 5 minutes to spare, Yamato's face turned annoying almost instantly.
"Mimi, what's he doing here?" Yamato asked hotly.
"I'm sorry!" she cried out. "He saw your text and I knew I couldn't get out of it. So instead of arguing with him and being late I brought him along."
Yamato looked at Mimi and then back over at Taichi. In the next moment, Yamato had snatched up front of Taichi's shirt.
"What we do in here, does not leave the room." Yamato seethed, shoot Taichi daggers. "If you say anything to Sora about ANYTHING you will regret it. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Crystal clear. Geez." Taichi said, waving Yamato off.
"Good. You can sit over there." Yamato said, pointing a big comfy office chair. "Don't touch anything."
"Yes sir!" Taichi said, giving Yamato a salute.
Yamato rolled his eyes and walked into the tiny recording booth next to the chair Taichi was currently sitting in.
Mimi looked over a Taichi and sighed. She put her purse down below the desk where the motherboard sat. She leaned over and kissed Taichi on the cheek.
"Wish me luck!" she whispered, walking towards the door Yamato went behind.
Taichi gave her a small smile back. "You don't need it."
After Yamato introduced Mimi to the rest of his band mates, Mimi stood in front of a music stand and a mic which was about six inches from her face. On the stool beside her was a fresh water bottle and a pencil. Mimi had gotten the lyrics to Yamato's song a few weeks ago but had completely memorized it. It was a song Yamato had written in the beginning of his relationship with Sora but thought it was the perfect gift. Yamato also knew the perfect duet partner too.
As Taichi watched Mimi prepare for the song, a guy walked in and took the empty chair next to him. He looked over at Taichi and nodded his head.
"I'm Satoshi." The guy said. "Are you friends with Yamato?"
"The very best with Yamato." Taichi said, giving Satoshi a big smile. "The pretty brunette over there," he pointed to Mimi, "is my girlfriend."
Satoshi looked over at Mimi and nodded.
"Nice."
"I know." Taichi responded back, looking back over at Mimi. She was adjusting a pair of black headphones on her head, with one side off her ear.
"Satoshi," Yamato appeared from the door of the booth. "We're ready. Give us the signal and we'll start."
"You got it boss." Satoshi said, scooting his chair closer to the motherboard. Taichi had never seen so many buttons and knobs in his life. The temptation to touch something was starting to win…
As his finger hovered over a red switch, a loud bang made him look it.
It was Yamato, giving Taichi a death glare. Taichi quickly pulled his finger away from the button and leaned back in his chair, giving Yamato a smirk in return. Mimi was next to Yamato, trying to suppress a laugh.
Satoshi raised his eyebrows, and looked over at Taichi. He shook his head and started to push buttons. The sign above the recording booth lit up, signaling they had started. Satoshi pointed to Yamato, that was his cue to start strumming his guitar strings.
After a few moments, Mimi began to sing the first words.
Taichi sat up in his chair, giving Mimi his full attention. She had such a beautiful, gentle voice and Taichi could not take his eyes off of her. He knew she could sing; he was there for all of her drunk karaoke performances the nights they'd all gone out together. But this was something he'd never heard before. Her voice was raw, pure, and melodic. Taichi was in a trance that was Mimi's voice.
Listening to her voice, he felt…lighter. It was a feeling he had never felt before. Not with any girl before her. Could this be what Yamato felt? Taichi was having an internal argument with himself.
After Mimi sang her first part it was Yamato's turn. He sang along with the notes he was producing, sounding perfectly in tune. During that time, Mimi snuck a glance up and looked at Taichi.
He was looking at her like she was the only person on earth. It surprised her to see him look at her that way, she was almost breathless.
When they came up to the chorus, Mimi and Yamato sang in perfect harmony. Mimi hit a higher note and held it longer than Yamato's note and in that moment Taichi felt his heart skip a beat. The argument he had with himself was over. He was in love with Mimi Tachikawa.
Mimi couldn't help herself. As she sang the next verse, she looked directly at Taichi. It felt like it was only the two of them in that tiny recording studio, and the words she sang were only meant for him.
When Yamato strung the last note of the song, Mimi looked up. Yamato was smiling, his mood completely opposite from what it was 10 minutes ago. She looked over a Taichi, who was sitting back in his chair again. Mimi gave him a small smile, and he returned the gesture.
"That was great guys!" Satoshi said as Mimi, Yamato and his band mates exited the booth. "I don't think we've ever hit on the first take. Yama, you should bring this guy around more often," he said, talking about Taichi. "He seems to be good luck!"
Taichi looked over at Yamato with a satisfied grin on his face. The one that said, "See?" without any exchange of words.
Yamato rolled his eyes. "Not a word to Sora, Yagami." He said as he headed back to the recording booth to pack up. A few moments later, he came out with the case slung over one shoulder.
"Mimi you were amazing." Yamato praised, "thank you so much for doing this, I couldn't have done it without you."
Mimi smiled, and gave Yamato a hug. "It was all you!" she said, "but anything for you and Sora, I'm there."
After that, everyone bid their farewells, and Yamato, Taichi and Mimi found themselves outside the studio building.
"We should have the demo in a few hours." Yamato said. "I kind of wanted to hear it first, to make sure everything was good, but then I want Sora to hear it. I hope that's fine with you, Mimi."
"It's no problem!" She said, "it's a song for her, she deserves to hear it first. But I still want a link to the song afterwards!"
Yamato laughed. "Of course!" He looked over at Taichi and his smile fell a little.
"Thanks for not breaking anything." Yamato said, his smile returning.
"I had fun actually," Taichi said, sneaking a peek at Mimi. "I want to come next time too!"
Yamato put his hands up. "Don't her ahead of yourself now. But I should be going. I'll talk to you guys later!" He finished, turning around and started to walk down the street.
Taichi looked back at Mimi, taking her hand in his.
"Mimi you were amazing. I had no clue you could sing like that."
Mimi blushed. She started to get fidgety and took the lead, headed towards the train station.
"Thanks. I haven't sung in a while and I was nervous I wasn't going to sound good. I didn't want to ruin the song for Sora!"
"You definitely didn't. If anything you made it better." Taichi said, a softness in his voice that made Mimi blush.
Taichi didn't know what to say. He knew his feelings for Mimi, but at the moment, he didn't know where she stood. He didn't dare risk opening his mouth and spilling his secret. What they had going on was really good, and he wasn't ready to ruin it yet.
"So," Taichi began, speaking in that mischievous voice Mimi knew so well. "Can you still make it up to me?"
Mimi knew exactly what he was talking about. She meant to say that to get Taichi off her back but pretty soon, he was going to put her on her back.
"Oh shut up." Mimi said, playfully bumping into him as they walked.
What could she do? It was hard to say no to him.